Pieces of the Puzzle
by Bluebaby555
Summary: Prostitutes are being murdered in the D.C. area and the killer is playing a sick game with the BAU. Can the team figure out the puzzle and catch the murdered before he comes for one of them?
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** **I own nothing from Criminal Minds**

**CHAPTER ONE**

Anita Ryan smiled to herself as she heard a car coming down the deserted road and start to slow down. She subtly hiked her skirt up an inch or two, showing off more of her thighs. It had been a long night and so far she had only turned a couple of cheap tricks. She needed at least 100 dollars more to be able to pay her rent for next month. She glanced over her shoulder and kept walking, her hips having more of a sexy sway to them. The car following her was a brand new cherry red Corvette. She knew she was definitely going to be able to get more than 100 bucks from this John.

"Hey sweetheart it's getting cold out why don't you hop in and I'll give you a ride to where ever you're going." The man inside the car said pulling over.

"My mother told me never to except rides from strangers." She flirted.

"Well this," he pulled out four crisp 100 dollar bills from his pocket, "says I'm not a stranger.

Anita looked up and down the road and then back to the car. There was no way in hell she was going to pass up an opportunity like this one. She wrapped her fake fur coat around her skinny body a little tighter and walked over to his car hopping in. The Corvette peeled out away from the curb and sped off down the road nearly side swiping another parked car.

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Anita Ryan's body was found the following morning in an ice machine outside of a motel. Her throat was slashed from ear to ear and a large piece of skin was missing from her lower left leg. The cut was shaped like a puzzle piece.

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"No wonder this kid doesn't have a girlfriend." Morgan said to Prentiss as he passed by Reid, who was pouring over the obituaries, to his desk.

Prentiss tried her best to stifle a laugh and looked sympathetically at Reid. "Hey don't make fun of him. I don't see you with a girlfriend which makes me wonder because…look at you."

Morgan flashed her a toothy grin and sat down at his desk taking a sip from his cup of coffee. "Hey I get all I need from baby girl."

Prentiss just laughed and shook her head. "When are you two going to quit with the flirting already and move to the next level?" She asked.

"Give it time. So what did you do last night?" Morgan asked her changing the subject.

Emily took a sip of coffee and cleared her throat. "Nothing too exciting. I just watched a movie and fell asleep early." She lied. It wasn't like she could tell him that Hotch, their boss, came over and they engaged in things that would be considered illegal in most states.

"Ah-hah!" Reid shouted making both Prentiss and Morgan jump.

"What you found your social life?" Morgan joked.

"Anita Ryan." Reid said pointing at the name in the obituaries.

"Was she someone you knew?" Prentiss asked.

"She's the third prostitute to have been murdered in the D.C. area in the last two months. Ladies and gentlemen I believe we have a serial killer on our hands."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO:**

By the time the team had arrived at the motel where Anita Ryan's body was dumped there wasn't much of a crowd anymore. The press had gotten their five minute story and left and when the crowd found out it was "just another prostitute" they eventually went their own separate ways. The ice machine was being moved into a police van to be taken away as evidence and Anita's body had already been taken to the morgue for an autopsy. A crack of thunder sounded from the sky and Emily Prentiss had a feeling it was a bad omen.

"Hi you must be the BAU." A stout middle aged man said walking over to the team. "I'm Officer Roger Kane." He introduced himself shaking Hotch's hand.

"Detective Kane can you tell us when the body was found?" Reid asked, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

"Around 8:30 this morning. The man, Mr. Vincent Shay," He said glancing down at his notepad, "staying in room 3B came down at about that time to get some ice and that's when Ms. Ryan's body was discovered."

"We know he dumped her in the ice machine but do you think he could have killed her in one of the rooms?" Morgan asked.

"I'm afraid not. We had our forensic detectives check all of the rooms and there were no signs of foul play or any blood splatter that could be connected to the way that Ms. Ryan was murdered."

"Did Ms. Ryan have any family that has been notified?" Hotch asked Officer Kane.

"She had a young son and they both lived with her mother on," Officer Kane fixed his thick glasses and flipped to another page in his notepad, "89 West Ave downtown, apartment number 5A."

"Thank you." Hotch said before turning back to his team. "Reid and JJ I want you to go to that address and find out what you can from Anita Ryan's mother and son. Rossi and Morgan I need you to stay here and talk to the people at the motel and find out if they saw anything at all. Prentiss and I will head over to the morgue and see what the coroner found out.

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Reid and JJ arrived at the dilapidated apartment building that was on 89 West Ave. They both stepped out of the black SUV and looked around at the run down surroundings. The place looked like a prime area for their killer to strike if they had him pegged half right so far. Reid and JJ got buzzed into the building and made their way up the creaky stairs to apartment 5A. Knocking on the chipped and cracked door they waited for an answer.

The door was slowly unlocked and a skinny old woman opened the door ajar. "Yes, may I help you?

"Hello Mrs. Ryan I'm SA Jennifer Jareau and this is SSA Dr. Spencer Reid." JJ said her and Reid flashing their badges. "We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions about your daughter."

Mrs. Ryan gave them a quick once over and decided to let them in. She pulled the door open all the way and stepped aside to let them into the cramped apartment. Off in the corner a little boy who looked to be about 5-years-old was eating a bowl of Cheerios and watching Saturday morning cartoons.

"What do you need to know?" Mrs. Ryan asked looking over at her grandson sadly.

"Had your daughter complained of being followed or watched by anyone in the past couple of weeks?" Reid asked.

"She was a hooker Dr. Reid there were scumbags following her and watching her all the time."

Reid looked down at his shoes slightly embarrassed. "Yes but did she ever mention anyone who might have been overly aggressive?"

"No she never talked much about what she did. She knew I didn't approve and she knew how dangerous it was. I begged her forever to get a real job for Nathan's sake but she had somewhat of a drug problem and wouldn't listen." Mrs. Ryan sniffled.

"When is mommy coming home?" Nathan yelled from the couch bouncing up and down excitedly.

"I think it's best if you two leave now." Mrs. Ryan said.

JJ shook her head and she and Reid turned to leave. "Mrs. Ryan if you can think of anything at all please don't hesitate to call us." She said handing her a business card.

JJ and Reid were back out in the dusty hallway when the door slammed behind them. They were about to leave when a young woman came out of apartment 7A and called them over.

"You guys the cops?" She asked breathing in deeply from her nose. It was obvious she had just snorted something.

"We're with the FBI." JJ corrected her.

"Are you looking into Anita's death? I just heard about it on the news about 20 minutes ago."

"Yes." Reid said looking at her suspiciously.

"That old bat Mrs. Ryan doesn't know anything."

"And what do you know?" JJ asked.

"A few days ago I was out on the streets and this real nice cherry red Corvette pulled up next to me. The guy inside offered me 400 bucks but there was something off about him so I turned him down. It was a lot of money to pass up but I always trust my gut." She said pinching her nose for a second. "I just have this feeling that it might have been the guy who grabbed Anita."

"Can you tell us what he looked like?" Reid asked.

"No it was too dark. All I know is that he was driving a cherry red Corvette that looked brand new."

JJ handed her another card. "Call us if you remember anything else."

Once they were both back in the SUV and buckled in JJ turned to Reid. "Why would someone who can afford a new Corvette be out trying to pick up prostitutes? You would think he could probably get any woman he wants."

"Prostitutes offer a sense of danger to some men plus there's the fact that most of them will fulfill almost any sexual craving or fantasy that you have." JJ gave him a funny look. "What? I've read about it."

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Rossi and Morgan had talked to every single person including the desk clerk at the motel and they had gotten nowhere. The only person left on their list was Vincent Shay who had found the body. Rossi pounded on his door and Vincent opened it up. Morgan immediately noticed the packed suitcase on the bed.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Morgan asked.

Vincent ran a hand through his black greasy hair and sucked in a nervous breath. "Look I just came down to D.C. to hook up with this girl I met back in Denver a few months ago. I never expected to go get a bucket of ice and find some dead chick.

"Her name was Anita Ryan." Rossi said.

"Whatever." Vincent was visibly shaking. "I'm freaked out as hell and I'm not staying here for another second."

"Whoa." Morgan stepped in front of him. "You better not be leaving town so soon because we may have some more questions to ask you later."

"Fine I'm just moving to a different place across town. It's called Jackson's Motel. You can find me there if you need anything else." He told them before closing the door in their faces.

"You think he knows more?" Morgan asked Rossi on their way back to the car?

"If he does it's going to take a little more than just a polite conversation to get it out of him." Rossi said hopping into the driver's seat.

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Hotch and Prentiss arrived at the Morgue and Prentiss shivered as they walked into the building.

"Are you okay?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah I just hate morgues." She told him.

"I don't blame you." He hated them too. They were always freezing cold and gave off an awful sterilized stench that stayed with you for hours after you left.

They briefly talked with a nurse and then went into the autopsy room where the coroner was just finishing up. When they came in he was putting a sheet over Anita Ryan's face and pushing her into one of the draws.

"Ah, you must be SSA Aaron Hotchner and SSA Emily Prentiss. Roger Kane called and told me you were coming in."

"Yes we wanted to ask you about Anita Ryan's autopsy." Hotch said.

"Well the poor girl put up quite a struggle." He told them. "Her arms and ribs are covered in bruises showing that she tried to escape from her captor. Her throat was slit from ear to ear so severely that she was nearly decapitated."

Prentiss shivered and unknowingly stepped closer to hotch for warmth. The coroner reached for something behind him and placed it on the examination table. It was a photo of the piece of skin missing from Anita's thigh. It looked like a roughly shaped letter A was cut from her flesh.

"What were the other two pieces that were cut from the two other victims?" Prentiss asked Hotch.

"I think it was a T and an R." Hotch said.

"I think he's trying to tell us something. It's like we're slowly getting pieces of some puzzle." Prentiss said, an icy chill running up her spine.

"Yeah but how many more have to die before the puzzle is complete." Hotch said regretfully.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Short chapter but there will be a lot more soon. **

Lizzie Abbot walked down the street passing a drunken bum passed out by a liquor store. She shook her head and looked up and down the street trying to see if any potential customers were driving by. So far the night had been pretty dead. She had heard about Anita's death on the news that morning but that still didn't stop her from going out. Besides she knew all about the red corvette so she felt pretty safe. Turning the corner two high beams fell across her face temporarily blinding her. She put her arm over her face trying to block the light and could briefly make out a silver Mercedes Benz coming her way.

"Hey sweetheart why don't you hop in the car." A man said.

Lizzie tried to make out the face of the man but her vision was still screwed up. She figured it was a nice car and she could make a few bucks off of him so she hopped in. He sped off down the road once she was in the car.

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The team sat around the conference table all dejected. So far they had gotten nowhere. Anita's mother never called them back and they only had three pieces of the puzzle. JJ looked over at Reid, an idea had struck her.

"I really think we should try and find out more from that Lizzie Abbot girl." JJ said. "She might be our best bet right now."

"Did you say Lizzie Abbot?" Garcia asked looking up from her lap top.

JJ looked at her confused. "Yeah why?"

"The Lizzie Abbot who lives on 89 West Ave downtown?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think you'll be able to reach her there." Garcia said.

"Why did she move or something?" JJ asked.

Garcia had a grim look on her face. "Yeah to the morgue."

"What?" JJ said getting up to go over to Garcia.

Garcia pulled up the police report on her lap top and showed JJ. "Lizzie Abbot, 23, Female, Murdered. Her throat was slashed and her body was dumped in the back of Jackson's Motel."

"Did you say Jackson's Motel?" Morgan asked. "That's the motel Vincent Shay moved to."

"Where there any pieces taken from her skin?" Prentiss asked.

"Yeah it says that a letter S was cut from her upper left thigh and a letter H from her right calf."

"TRASH." Prentiss said. "He thinks these women are trash. That means he feels like he's cleaning up the city."

"But how many more will he kill until he feels like he's done his job?" Hotch asked cryptically.


End file.
